Sunday, 27 January 2013

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen the photo I posted yesterday of my bags of goodies from the Harvey Nichols Beauty Bazaar. I made a list at the start of the month of beauty products I desperately wanted to get my mitts on and since Friday was pay day, I could finally justify taking a little trip to town (braving the horrendous snow, I might add) to go and spend some moneys.

Now as I mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm something of a Youtube beauty channel addict and I'd say that the majority of things purchased yesterday were down to one blogger in particular. Step forward Anna. I pretty much want to buy every product she's ever spoken about ever, and since she frequently sings the praises of Origins Drink Up Intensive overnight mask, that was top of my list of things to buy once pay day came around. I think my skin has been suffering from the weather recently and going from the freezing cold outside to the central heated inside hasn't been doing it any favours, so I figured a really intensive hydrating mask could be a big help. When I got to the Origins counter however, the very helpful lady told me that they were giving away a free gift if you purchased two products. Perfect - just the excuse I needed to convince myself that I should probably definitely have a nosey through the exciting Origins shelves and buy more stuff.

I stumbled across the lovely Brightening Musts set which contains a full size tube of VitaZing, a 30ml tube of Modern Friction and a little pot of GinZing all for just £26 and just knew that I had to have it! Since the VitaZing on it's own normally costs £27, I thought that it was pretty flippin' bargainous! I'm not sure about other Origins counters, but if you're in Liverpool, get down to the Beauty Bazaar pronto and snap up one of these sets!

Of course, because I'd purchased two items (well, technically four), I got my free gift, which consisted of the Plantscription serum (15ml) a super pretty headband with Swarovski crystals on it (so unnecessary but so cute) AND a full size Starting Over moisturizer which normally costs £38! All for free! Origins, I think we're going to be good friends...

I think I might actually give the moisturizer to my Mum, because I'm THAT nice and also because I'd already purchased the This Works Perfect Skin Super Moisturizer (another Anna recommendation...) before I went to Origins. I feel like I'm constantly on a search for the perfect moisturizer - so I'm hoping that this, which seems like a good all rounder (it's actually a moisturiser and a serum in one) could be the one for me.

Finally, I left the Beauty Bazaar and headed over to Boots to grab a couple of slightly more budget beauty buys. Firstly the Botanics Rejuvenating Bath Elixir (which, yes Anna has also spoken about before... this is starting to get a bit embarassing...) plus a pair of oh so glamourous exfoliating gloves. Even though I use a body scrub regularly (currently it's Soap & Glory's Breakfast Scrub, which I have to stop myself from trying to eat every time I use it because it smells that AMAZING), I think a good rub with a pair of these gloves can be a big help when trying to slough away all of that nasty dead skin, as well getting the blood flowing (not really sure why that's important, but it definitely is). I think they cost about £3 so they're very purse-friendly.

So that's everything. I'm ridiculously excited about trying everything out, and maybe even doing a couple of reviews once I've had a bit of time to use it all properly! Ooooh don't you just love new things!!!

Have you tried any of the products above? What did you think? Got any other Origins recommendations for me? I fear this may become a bit of an addiction...

Saturday, 26 January 2013

So I'm not really sure how to start this post... I could just gloss over the fact that I've not blogged since last Summer and carry on as if nothing's happened, but that'd be silly. At the same time, I'm not keen on going into a long ramble about how I lost my blogging mojo and how sorry I am and blah blah blah, because realistically, nobody cares and also, excuses are boring. Basically, I stopped blogging for a bit, I'm back now, hopefully for the long haul, but who even knows what the future holds? Certainly not me. Now quit yo' bellyaching and let's get on with it shall we? Or something...

Anyway, I thought I'd make this first post a bit of an update, since a few things have changed since I last posted many, many moons ago. I've moved in with Joe - you may remember that we got a new house and Joe was doing TONS of work on it, so we couldn't move in straight away. Moving day just kept getting pushed further and further back, until eventually we had to move in, even though there was still lots to do. We moved in September (I can't believe how long it's been already!) and there is still a fair amount of work to do (I know, it's ridiculous, but there really was SO MUCH to sort out in this house!), but we're getting there. Some rooms are fabulous (our bathroom is pretty much the nicest room in the house - it has a TV, which is the world's most unnecessary thing ever but is still quite cool) and some still have a long way to go, but it's nice to have our own space nevertheless.

Keeping up with the Kardashians in the bath... because I can...

I also changed jobs. I actually really liked my job in Chester but the commute was a killer and I'm really not an early morning kind of girl. So when my boss at the beauty spa and clinic I interned at in 2011 asked me to come back and be her Marketing Manager, I couldn't really say no. It's been a hectic few months, as we've just recently launched another clinic, but I'm loving it and while I do still have to get two buses (damn you inability to drive!), it's nowhere near as long a journey as I had when I was going to Chester every day.

To most normal people, this isn't really a big deal, but to me it is. Finally, about 12 years after everybody else, I got an iPhone. I randomly lost my old reliable LG one day and decided that it was about time I finally bit the bullet and joined the Apple brigade. I think the main selling point for me was Instagram and apps in general. (I know you don't have to have an iPhone for Instagram but shhh!) I've become a bit addicted to it, although I don't think I actually make use of all the clever things it can do. I mainly just use it for phone-related stuff, checking Facebook and watching YouTube videos on the way to and from work. In the words of Marge from Monsters Inc "I'm always watching".

It's bad really, because I used to always read on the bus, which I felt was good for my brain and stuff, but now I just obsessively watch beauty videos, which just end up fueling my craving for expensive beauty products. In terms of blogging though, this iPhone is going to turn out to be pretty darn useful, since a lot of my stuff is packed away in the loft including my camera charger and my Flip video camera that I use for vlogging. So, while I won't be able to film videos for a while (I can't face attempting to find it among all the boxes in the loft), I can at least take photos, since the iPhone camera's a good'un.

Before this post spirals out of control and I start telling you about every single thing I've been doing over the past seven months, I'm going to end it here. Don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow with slightly more exciting subject matter - I went shopping today and bought a fair few exciting beauty products (probably all of which have at some point or other been mentioned by a Youtube beauty blogger and added to my mental list of "things I MUST own". Until then kids, keep out of trouble.